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Text message donations could amplify protests, like this one at the raid of Oaksterdam

They got the guns, but we got the numbers, folks.

After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, millions of people each donated $5 to the Red Cross using text messaging on their cell phones. The slick, quick, fundraising method brought in $30 million for relief efforts.

And if there’s one group that could use a slick, quick, easy income stream, it’s the drug law reform community. Today TheAtlantic.com writes about how the Federal Elections Commission has voted to allow political donations by text message.

The Atlantic calls it a “critical money-raising permutation for candidates scrambling for cash. And the newly legal pitch opens a new front in the battle between Mitt Romney and President Obama.”

It also provides an easy way for pissed-off potheads and medical marijuana patients to do some actual activism without getting off the couch.

About 16.7 million Americans used pot in the last month, according to national surveys. Imagine hearing about the latest raid, picking up the phone, and texting “I got five on it” to NORML or ASA or DPA, and thereby donating $5 to the cause. The charge would appear on your cellphone bill.

“The FEC had previously declined to allow campaigns to raise money with text messages, but reversed itself — at the behest of a coalition of political groups and the Romney and Obama campaigns — after determining that the contributions can be verified as legal. Donors, who will remain anonymous, can contribute up to $50 per campaign using the phone service.”

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Smell the Truth, syndicated for distribution by TruMedia, is the recognized leading voice of the fast growing cannabis media space - giving advertisers, entrepreneurs, grassroots organizers and innovators access to a targeted network of cannabis users and advocates.